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News AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – May 6, 2013 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and the U.S. Navy have conducted the first fly-in arrested landing of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator.

Conducted May 4 at the Navy's shore-based catapult and arresting gear complex here, the test represents the first arrested landing by a Navy unmanned aircraft. It marks the beginning of the final phase of testing prior to carrier-based trials planned for later this month.

"This precision, shore-based trap by the X-47B puts the UCAS Carrier Demonstration [UCAS-D] program on final approach for a rendezvous with naval aviation history," said Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the Navy's UCAS program manager. "It moves us a critical step closer to proving that unmanned systems can be integrated seamlessly into Navy carrier operations."

During an arrested landing, the incoming aircraft extends its landing hook to catch a heavy cable extended across the aircraft landing area. The tension in the wire brings the aircraft to a rapid and controlled stop.

Carl Johnson, vice president and Navy UCAS program manager for Northrop Grumman, said this first arrested landing reinforced what the team already knew.

"The X-47B air vehicle performs exactly as predicted by the modeling, simulation and surrogate testing we did early in the UCAS-D program," Johnson said. "It takes off, flies and lands within a few feet of its predicted path."

The arrested landing test culminates more than three months of shore-based carrier suitability testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. The testing included precision approaches, touch-and-go landings, and precision landings by the X-47B air vehicle.

For the arrested landing, the X-47B used a navigation approach that closely mimics the technique it will use to land on an aircraft carrier underway at sea.

"There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge

The successful catapult test of Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) could prove important for both unmanned and manned naval aviation, U.S. Navy officers said after the May 14 launch from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, in a Navy test range area some 100 mi. off the Virginia coast.

The launch of X-47B AV-2, at a weight of 41,000 lb. and an end speed of 171 kt., was followed by two approaches to the ship leading to intentional wave-offs, the second at a height of 50 ft. above the deck. The aircraft then returned to Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. Later this week, an X-47B is due to return to the Bush and perform touch-and-go landings to verify the accuracy of the approach and landing guidance and flight control systems, and the vehicle’s ability to stay on centerline on deck.

It had been hoped the aircraft would conduct arrested landings during this at-sea period, but bad weather at Patuxent River prevented the completion of some tests — heavy-load arrestments and high-sink-rate landings — that were needed to earn formal Navy approval to make an arrested landing at sea. These tests should be finished in June and a carrier should be available in July-August.

This is expected to mark the end of the X-47Bs’ flying career. There are no plans for further flight tests in the UCAS-D program and, so far, no other program or agency has shown interest in using the Navy assets. Earlier plans called for an autonomous inflight refueling test to be carried out after the carrier landings, but these tests will instead be performed (for probe-and-drogue refueling only) using Calspan’s Learjet test aircraft, with flight control software that emulates the all-wing, “cranked kite” X-47B.

X-47B test results will clear the way for the U.S. Navy to launch a fast-track Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) program at a manageable level of technical risk. Navy officials plan to release a request for proposals for Uclass in the first quarter of next year and select a single air vehicle system contractor by the end of fiscal 2014, with the aim of achieving an initial operational capability (IOC) within six years.

IOC is defined as the ability to sustain two separate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) orbits, on a 24/7 basis, at a “tactically significant range.” Uclass is primarily an ISR asset but will have the ability to perform limited strikes against “highly defended and dangerous” targets, according to Rear Adm. Mat Winter, Navy program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike systems.

The X-47B team will remain together through fiscal 2014 to analyze data and transfer lessons to other programs. Capt. Jaime Engdahl said after the launch that “we see direct opportunities for improving safety and effectiveness of operation for both manned and unmanned aircraft,” while Winter commented that the Naval Air Warfare Center is looking at applications of the X-47B’s landing guidance technology to manned aircraft.

The hardware used in the X-47B program is unique, but similar in principle to the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System being developed for all aircraft carriers to replace today’s radar-based auto-land system. The latter is limited because of telltale radar emissions, an inability to handle more than one aircraft at a time, and because it will not work properly with the stealthy F-35.